TEDx Manchester 2018- Live Private Event

Dr Rachel Clarke quoted a famous Dr William Osler “Just listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis”.

“Stories are important. As a doctor my job is to listen to my patients stories and shape them for the better.

Palliative care doctor (focuses on providing relief from the symptoms, pain, physical stress, and mental stress of a terminal diagnosis. Dr Rachel Clarke specifically specialises in patients at the end of their life)

A very powerful story and example came from The Royal Marsden one of the foremost cancer treatment hospitals where one of the ‘Play specialists’ was trying to make radio therapy less stressful to children. Children face radio therapy for tumours alone inside a radiotherapy machine which is loud and distressing. This can be a challenging and frightening experience for a child or anyone to go through by themselves.

To cope with the challenge the play specialist developed something very simple yet quite ingenious called ‘magic string’ .

The magic string was a ball of twine which could be held at one end by the child/patient and the other end of the thread under the doorand by the parent. The play specialist invented a literal story. Narrative thread that enabled the child to tell them selves that even though they were behind a hard lead door and going through the experience themselves they were still being cared for by their mother and father outside the room. A lovely Idea”

Reflection

In terms of Diabetes patients and devices, specifically referring to those first being introduced to the condition, it is particularly important for them to understand the value of connection and support from those close to them as well as others also suffering. For development I must move forward taking into consideration the device monitoring/ provision functionality but also the data recording its meaning and the connection with family members or doctors.